It may be the off-season for the Vancouver Canucks but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still hats streaming down from all those fans. Then again, maybe they’re not hats — even though this is the Hat Trick feature we run every weekday. Maybe they’re bricks. But there’s no confusion about what the following is: three issues around this community’s beloved hockey squad.

1. When people talk about a “reset” for the Canucks it may not necessarily work out as hoped, but if you have a vivid imagination you can certainly see how this team could be better, bigger and a lot different next season. According to most everyone who saw Brendan Gaunce down the stretch and in the playoffs, he appears to be the real deal. And if you took note, GM Mike Gillis talked about having a coach who would be willing to look past those early mistakes young players might make. If you apply that kind of thinking to putting Gaunce straight into the third-line centre spot, with hopes he can swim rather than sink, why then you can begin to see one of the major holes that has plagued this team for a long while being plugged. No guarantees, however, as it’s a long jump from junior to the NHL. But the guy is supposed to be good, and we are talking patience here. Now you’re rolling, you add big Kellan Lain as your fourth-line centre, with the same provisos all applying. The guy was also heavily sought after by many teams, including the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings, so he has some promise. And while he didn’t get a point in 13 games in Chicago, the Canucks won’t be looking for points. They’ll be looking for hits, checking, and everything else a guy who skates pretty well for his enormous size can bring to a fourth-line spot. You still need a right-hander who can take some defensive-zone faceoffs when Ryan Kesler is hurt, as he inevitably will be, but if those two can step into these not overly demanding positions, this team could make some progress up front.

2. Matt Cooke has often been an unsavory character in his NHL career and nobody really can say that he hadn’t come to the end of his rope here in Vancouver. But the move will not go down as one of Dave Nonis’s great ones, given how well he’s playing under Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma. This is not to say he doesn’t have a lot of support from the Pens, or that he wouldn’t have made significant contract demands from the Canucks at the end of the 2007-08 season; he would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of that year, but was traded to the Washington Capitals at the deadline. Not only was Matt Pettinger, who came to Vancouver in the trade, a complete joke, but Cooke has gone on to win a Stanley Cup as a very useful player. And that’s even if you don’t believe he’s reformed. He shone again for the Pens against the Senators Wednesday night, and it’s getting tiresome watching this guy play as well as he is, knowing that Pettinger was all Vancouver got for his services. That trade was ugly a month after it was made, but it looks even worse now. Thank heavens then-Columbus GM Doug MacLean said no when Nonis phoned and asked if he’d be interested in taking Cory Schneider from Vancouver in return for Gilbert Brule.

3. While everyone here has been talking about who will coach the Canucks and who might be the perfect choice, another interesting question is where Alain Vigneault ends up and when. For starters, does Vigneault think he would benefit from a year out, to clear his head, or does he want to jump right back into the fray with the change of scenery being enough to provide his own “reset”? And if he does want to get right back into the saddle, will he take Rick Bowness and Newell Brown with him, or does he want different buddies with whom to hang out with on the road, when the coaches spend a lot of time together? What will Vigneault do for a goaltending coach, when he does land? Will it be Ian Clark, if he’s free, or will the guy in place do? Is Dallas a realistic option? Or is Phoenix the perfect fit for him, if Dave Tippett decides he’d like a change of scenery? Will the Rangers’ job come up if they go out against the Bruins tonight, or will one round won be enough to save John Tortorella’s job? Does Colorado’s Joe Sakic regret not waiting for Vigneault, after opting for a guy like Patrick Roy, who has no NHL experience? The Winnipeg Jets missed the playoffs. Would they enjoy having AV back in Winnipeg, the city from which he got his promotion to the NHL under Nonis? No question he’ll have some options, and most everyone in this city hopes he finds the right landing place and enjoys a great deal of success.

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